Improvement in reversible firing-pins for breech-loading fire-arms



1 m. MARLIN. Reversible Firing-Pin for Breach-.Loading Fire-Arms.

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rrnD STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN M. MARLIN, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN REVERSIBLE FIRING-PINS FOR BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 159,592, dated February 9, 1875; application tiled February 3, 1875.

To all whom lit may concern:

e it known that I, JOHN M. MARLIN, of `ew Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Breech-Loading Fire- Arms; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making a part of this specilication, in which- Figure l is a longitudinal sectional View, showing the reversible firing-pin in position to explode a rim-tiring cartridge; and Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing the firing-pin in position to explode a center-firing cartridge. Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6 are modifications of my invention.

This invention relates to an improvement in breech-loading fire-arms; and it consists in providing the breech with a reversible firingpin, held in a longitudinal slot in said breech by a lateral screw loosely penetrating a slot in the lining-pin, and thereby giving therin'gpin longitudinal play in the slot in the breechblock, the construction of the several parts being such that the projection or point at the front of the firing-pin may be changed from the center to the rim of the cartridge, or vice versa, by simply reversing or inverting the firing-pin in the said slot in the breech, the object of the invention being to convert an ordinary breech-loading fire-arm into one in which both center-firing and rim-firing cartridges may be used, as will hereinafter more fully appear.

In the accompanying drawing, A is the breech block of the tre-arm-in this instance shown as amovable breech. The said breechblock A is provided with a longitudinal slot, B7 extending from the rear to the front thereof. C is the chamber of the barrel for receiving the cartridge. D is the firing-pin, provided with the slot E and the point F, the point F being near one edge of the firing-pin D. The slot B is so made in the breech-block A that its lower edge comes a very little below the center of the bore of the barrel. The upper edge of the slot B comes a little above the inner periphery of the said bore. The firingpin D is held in the slot B by the screw or pin G, which is inserted laterallyin the breechblock A, its point passing through the slot E in the firing-pin D, and permitting the latter to have longitudinal play in the slot B, in order that it may be driven against the cartridge by the cock H.

In order to explode a center-fire cartridge, the firing-pin D must be inserted in the slot B with the projection or point F nearest the lower edge of the slot B, the location of the point F on the firing-pin D being such that it will be precisely in a plane with the center of the cartridge. In order to explode a rim-drin g cartridge, the firing-pin D must be inserted in the slot B in a position inverse to the one last described-that is to say, with the point F nearest the upper edge of the slot B. The cock H will then drive the point F against the rim of the cartridge. The fact that the firin gpin D can be used to explode both a centerre and a rim-nre cartridge entitles it to the name of The Reversible Firing-Pin, and I therefore accordingly so denominate it.

It is obvious that the form of the firing-pin1 may be changed, as illustrated in Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6, without departing from the nature of my invention.

As illustrated in Fig. 3, the firing-pin may be made with a circular head on its front end, on one side of the face of which is a point or projection to strike the cartridge, which, by being placed in one position, will strike the center of the cartridge, and by being turned half-way around it will be brought into a position to strike the rim. By the use of this niodication, the hole can be drilled through the breech-block and counter-bored at the front to adapt it to receive the circular head of the pin, or the pin may be made of uniform size throughout its entire length, and the point placed on one side of its front face, in which case the hole will be drilled from the rear nearly through the breech-block, and two small openings drilled through the face of said block, coincident with the rim and center of the cartridge, so that the point on the pin may project through one of the openings for center-fire and through the other for rim-fire cartridges.

The pin may also be made in the form shown in Fig. 5, with a point on each end, one of which points may be made sharper than the 1. A breechloading fire-arm, provided with a reversible firing-pin, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The breech-block A, provided with the slot B and screw G, in combination with the reversible firing-pin D, having the slot E and point F, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

JOHN M. MARLIN.

Witnesses:

THEODORE MUNGEN, JAMES T. CLOSE, Jr. 

